NEWARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Eighty percent of Americans say preparing for retirement is their top
priority, according to a recent Prudential Investments survey measuring
retirement readiness.i But when it comes to actually being
prepared to retire, Americans, on average, grade themselves a “C” — and
12 percent even give themselves a failing grade.

Prudential Investments, the retail distribution business of PGIM, the
global investment management businesses of Prudential Financial, Inc.
(NYSE: PRU), remains among the industry’s fastest organically growing
fund families, ranking among the top five between 2008 and the third
quarter of 2016.ii The company managed $82 billion in assets
under management as of Oct. 31, 2016.iii

“Understanding the hurdles keeping people from a secure financial future
is critical to helping them meet their goals,” said Stuart Parker,
president of Prudential Investments. “This research reinforces the need
for people to seek advice and the need for the investment community to
give advisors the best tools and solutions available.”

Highlights from the full survey can be viewed at Prudential Investments’ website.

Among the key findings of the survey:

Individuals find investment products complex and are unsure about
what they are invested in:

Sixty-three percent of Americans find investing complex and
confusing. Sixty-six percent say it’s harder to invest now than
during their parents’ generation and 64 percent say they’re
overwhelmed by the number of available choices.

Forty-two percent of investors are not knowledgeable on how their
assets are allocated within a portfolio, and 43 percent are not
knowledgeable of which types of products they’ve invested.

Pre-retirees need a plan, but are frozen by inertia:

Seventy-four percent of pre-retirees said they should be doing
more while 40 percent simply don’t know what to do to prepare for
retirement.

While the savings estimate for retirement is more realistic for
some pre-retirees, 24 percent estimating retirement needs of one
million or greater, there is still a large gap — 54 percent of
pre-retirees have less than $150k saved in their
employer-sponsored plans.

Each generation is finding it harder to save:

Seventy-five percent of retirees believe the generations following
them will have a more difficult time saving for retirement.
Younger generations agree: 20 percent of pre-retirees don’t
believe they’ll ever be able to retire. Overall, 35 percent of
pre-retirees say they’ll never be able to save enough, so it
doesn’t matter when they start saving.

Across generations, 57 percent of Americans say they would use
savings to cover a financial emergency. Millennials often buck
that trend — with 32 percent opting to borrow money from family
and friends or 18 percent reporting that they would take out a
bank loan.

Many retirees retired earlier than planned, and fear certain
factors could negatively affect their savings:

Fifty-one percent of retirees retired earlier than planned. Of
those who retired earlier, 50 percent retired five or more years
earlier than expected.

Only 2 percent of the population retired earlier than planned
because they either wanted to retire or were tired of working. For
those who retired earlier than expected:

Fifty-two percent retired early for health problems or to take
care of a loved one.

Thirty percent were laid off from their jobs or offered an
early retirement incentive package.

Among the greatest fears that retirees believe could negatively
affect savings, the following rise to the top:

Fifty-seven percent reported healthcare costs.

Fifty-seven percent stated changes to Social Security.

Forty-five percent reported illness or disability.

Individuals recognize the value of live advice, but less than half
use an advisor:

The top source cited to learn about investing is a professional
financial advisor, with 37 percent of Americans reporting this.
However, only 44 percent reported using one.

The second most cited source for information used is financial
institutional websites, with 34 percent of Americans citing this.

Interestingly, 17 percent rely on their employer and 14 percent of
Americans don’t use any resources at all.

About the survey

The Retirement Preparedness Study was conducted using an online survey
among 1,568 adults living in the United States (including 438 retirees)
who met the following criteria:

Age 21 and up

Primary or shared responsibility in making household
financial/investment decisions

The survey was conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of Prudential between
July 20 and August 9, 2016. Results were weighted where necessary by
age, gender, race/ethnicity, region, education, income, size of
household, marital status, employment status (for non-retirees) and
propensity to be online to bring them in line with their actual
proportions in the population.

About PGIM and Prudential Financial

With 13 consecutive years of positive third-party institutional net
flows, PGIM, the global asset management businesses of Prudential
Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), ranks among the top 10 largest asset
managers in the world with more than $1 trillion in assets under
management as of September 30, 2016. PGIM’s businesses offer a range of
investment solutions for retail and institutional investors around the
world across a broad range of asset classes, including fundamental
equity, quantitative equity, public fixed income, private fixed income,
real estate and commercial mortgages. Its businesses have offices in 16
countries across five continents. Prudential’s other businesses also
offer a variety of products and services, including life insurance,
annuities and retirement-related services. For more information about
PGIM, please visit https://www.pgim.com.
For more information about Prudential, please visit www.news.prudential.com.

i This is the net of a few responses: saving for retirement
(58% Pre-retirees, 10% Retirees); having enough money to maintain my
lifestyle throughout retirement (41% Pre-retirees, 68% Retirees); not
running out of money in retirement (31% Pre-retirees, 59% Retirees); not
becoming a financial burden to my loved ones in retirement (14%
Pre-retirees, 41% Retirees).

ii Source: Simfund, as of Sept. 30, 2016, among top 50 U.S.
mutual fund competitors between 2008 and 3Q2016.

Investing involves risks. Some investments have more risk than others.
The investment return and principal value will fluctuate and the
investment, when sold, may be worth more or less than the original cost
and it is possible to lose money.